Yuletide at Rockford Plantation

The usual pattern is to hold holiday tours in the weeks leading up to Christmas. But, Rock Ford Plantation in Lancaster never holds true to the pattern.

Rock Ford, which was the home of plantation owner Edward Hand, presents its Yuletide Tours during the days following Christmas. This year’s events will be staged from December 26-29.

According to Sam Slaymaker, director of Rock Ford Plantation, Yuletide was celebrated in the late 1700s during the 12-day period between Christmas (December 25, the day Christ was born) and Twelfth Night/the Feast of the Magi (January 6, the day the magi offered their gifts to the infant Christ).

Back then, Christmas Day did not mark the culmination of the holiday but rather its beginning with a variety of old English traditions — decorating the home with greens, baking a Twelfth Night cake, enjoying the wassail bowl and burning the Yule log.

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Since Edward Hand’s birthday was on New Year’s Eve, Yuletide at Rock Ford was a festive place to be from before Christmas until a few days into the new year.

This year, candlelight tours will be held on December 26 and 27 from 4-8 p.m. each night. During the candlelight tours, the Georgian-style mansion will be decorated with holiday greenery and illuminated by the glow of lighted candles.

Visitors will be able to listen to live performances of period music and watch early American dancing in the great hall. Authentic 18th-century music of the season will be performed during the candlelight tours. Daylight tours will be held on December 28 and 29 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. each day.

As an added attraction, open-hearth cooking demonstrations will be presented by Rock Ford volunteers, and warm mulled cider and fresh-baked ginger cookies will be served to guests gathered around the kitchen fire.